Tis the season. And we should be thinking about cookies, and decorations, and that creepy Elf sitting on a shelf waiting for a mischievous situation to appear.

I am soooo glad my kids are too old for that. My elf would be sitting in the same spot the entire season. I would have to come up with some good lies. And I am not so hot at that.

So why is black on the mind?

Black Friday was just last week, and it definitely told us something about the changing shopping habits of Americans. Including automotive shopping.

Historically, Black Friday was the opening of the floodgate for holiday shoppers. The deals, the excitement, the kitsch of it all brought shoppers out in droves to kick off the hunt for a deal, insane spending, and a few well-placed elbows. And generally, economists could gauge a spending forecast for the season based on this one day.

Well, the jingle has jangled, and for the first time Black Friday was beat out by…Cyber Monday!

And why not? Shoppers got the same deals online as they would in the store for the most part, and could do so from the comfort of their couch while still digesting their turkey and pecan pie (I’m not a fan of pumpkin).

Now, you may be thinking “Why do I care? People still need to come on-lot to purchase a car!”

5 Ways to Promote Your Dealers Mobile App

Mobile app promotion was easy in 2008. App developers could submit their application to Apple app store and compete amongst the thousands of other apps for user’s attention. “Thousands” being 10,000. End of 2008 – five months after the mobile app store launch only 10,000 total iPhone apps existed. If an applilcation was popular, it would make the top 25 list in multiple categories and enjoy front row promotion to users around the world.

Today, over 500,000 apps exist on Apple’s store alone. Complex and large dollar promotional strategies back new attempts to crack the top 25 category – even for a day. Companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for faux downloads, contracting “incentivized install” companies that use virtual and real currency to pay users a fee to download the app. If enough downloads can be driven for a particular app, it has a chance to crack the top 25 of a given category.

This leaves a hole for quality mobile applications targeted at a smaller audience. How do we compete with the launch strategy for the next Angry Birds release? How will our customer find us amongst a sea of “other apps”? The answer is they won’t. Not in the app store.

Have you looked at your Google Analytics data lately?

Have you noticed the rise of visitors to your dealers website that are using mobile devices? When you look, you will see that 10-20% of website traffic is coming from consumers using mobile devices. It should come as no surprise that a majority of those users have Apple devices.

Most dealers have been coached to engage consumers using social media. Dealers have active blogs, Facebook, and Twitter accounts but has anyone told them that they are disappointing the same consumers they seek to engage?

How are consumers being disappointed? Dealers share a link to a page on their website via Facebook, Twitter, Digg, or LinkedIn and mobile device users can’t always get to the page. The page is viewable from a desktop device but not a mobile device.

Technology Gaps Complicate Seamless Internet Shopping

This phenomena is caused by a current technology gap in most automotive website platforms. Most website vendors have created separate desktop websites and mobile websites for dealers. So, when a mobile user clicks on a link shared on Twitter or Facebook, it often will just dump the mobile user to the home page of the mobile site because the mobile site does not have page referenced in social media posts.

10. Mobile site visitors are not replacing desktop visitors, rather its a complementary additive. One in three mobile searches is local. Dealers should provide an offer to a consumer who is driving around looking for a vehicle on a Saturday.

I agree mobile is vital but I’d be curious to know how may people are using their phone to shop dealers on a Saturday morning.

That’s the highlights from the interview. Nothing that most of us don’t already know but some of you might not be executing on. I’m working with my dealership website provider right now on expanding our mobile websites and overall strategy.

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Editors

Jeff Kershner

I’m the founder of DealerRefresh. I got my start in the dealer business when I was 18. From there I've worked throughout several departments within fixed to variable ops. Whether it’s managing the desk, perfecting sales process or studying online marketing and media trends, I absolutely love this business and the challenges it brings. On top of keeping up with DealerRefresh, I consult with dealerships and key industry businesses. My passion has been and continues to be helping dealers leverage new media to sell and improve customer service.

Alex Snyder

2019 marks Alex's 30th year in the car business. In that time he has had a front-row seat for the rise of the Internet and has been working to bring the online and offline dealership experience closer. Whether you knew him from his life at Checkered Flag or his years with Dealer.com/DealerTrack/Cox Alex has remained an opinionated DealerRefresh contributor who enjoys nothing more than to poke at the unsaid truths in our industry. He also helped found FRIKINtech.